APSU Sports Information
Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University men’s basketball will head back to Ohio for their lone in-season tournament on the 2016-17 docket, where the Govs will face off against Northern Kentucky, Miami University and Delaware in the 2016 Tarkett Sports Classic, hosted by Miami.
The Govs close out the tournament with an early 11:00am start, Sunday, against Delaware.
Head coach Dave Loos‘ squad will try to build on the momentum of a 107-67 win in its home opener against Oakland City, Monday, which featured significant contributions from just about every active player on the roster. The Govs will need to turn it up on defense against two squads averaging more than 80 points per game (Miami, 85.5 ppg; Northern Kentucky 80.0) entering the weekend.
The Miami contest will be broadcast on ESPN3.com.
Scouting The Tournament
Northern Kentucky
After going 9-21 in John Brannen’s first season, Northern Kentucky is off to a 1-1 start to 2016-17. Freshman Carson Williams, Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball in 2016, is averaging 12.5 points and 8.5 boards to start his first campaign, hitting 61.5 percent from the floor for a Norse squad that’s hitting 50.9 percent as a team.
Miami
A familiar face graces the sidelines for Miami, where former Tennessee State head coach John Cooper is in his fifth season. He leads a young squad with seven freshmen, including leading scorer Michael Weathers (17.5 ppg), that nearly erased a 21-point halftime deficit in Tuesday’s 89-87 loss to Wright State.
Delaware
Delaware started the season with two wins before dropping Tuesday’s contest against La Salle. First-year head coach Martin Inglesby has a strong upperclass to work with (four seniors, two juniors) that includes three of the Blue Hens top four scorers, with senior Cazmon Hayes (13.7 ppg, 7.3 rpg) leading the way.
Summing Up Oakland City
Seven Govs scored in double figures in a 107-67 rout of Oakland City, led by Josh Robinson‘s 17 points. Austin Peay forced 27 turnovers—most since 2008—and set a Dunn Center record with 17 steals, led by Robinson (six) and Steve Harris (four).
Last Time Out Against This Weekend’s Opponents
All three of this weekend’s contests will be against first-time opponents. Head coach Dave Loos is 4-10 all-time against the Horizon League (Northern Kentucky’s conference), 2-9 against the MAC (Miami) and 0-1 against Colonial Athletic Association (Delaware) foes.
Keep An Eye On
- Robinson’s House: Through two games, Robinson is averaging 21.5 points, despite seeing his string of 20-point performances halted at four against Oakland City. The preseason All-OVC choice is third in the conference in scoring, third in steals (3.5) and sixth in assists (4.5)
- Oddities: Austin Peay has not won the opening game of an in-season tournament since kicking off the 2009 Glenn Wilkes Classic with an 80-77 win against Akron.
- Heat Check: John Murry scored all of his career-high 15 points in a six-minute span against Oakland City, outscoring the Mighty Oaks 15-5 during that stretch.
- Glotta Tracker: Through two games, Glotta has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 7-to-0, and ranks second in the league in three-pointers per game (4.0).
- Milestone Watch: Robinson needs 53 points for 1,000 in his career, while Loos is eight wins away from 500 as a collegiate head coach.
APSU Govs Online
Check back at LetsGoPeay.com and on Austin Peay’s Official Athletics Facebook page often for up-to-date news about all Governor athletics, as well as the Governor men’s basketball Twitter page (@AustinPeayMBB). Live stats will be available during the game at www.LetsGoPeay.com, and all home games and Ohio Valley Conference games can be viewed on www.ovcdigitalnetwork.com
Postgame video interviews and other videos from around APSU Athletics can be found on our YouTube page (www.youtube.com/CultureofExcellence).
